Category Archives: World Issues and Concerns

When I think about the state of the Black church, it grieves me. Growing up in a Black church, I heard people say that the preacher wasn’t really preaching unless he was ‘hooping’. No one ever actually applauded the Word of God going forth. They applauded the antics of the pastor. The more he yelled and screamed and pranced about the stage, the more you saw the waving of hands, the yelling of “Amen, Pastor!” and the more ‘holy ghost dancing’. That was when I was in my pre-teens. Now, at 30, I can’t say much has changed; I can almost say that it’s gotten worse.

Now, not only does the above happen, but everyone is rebuking everything “in the name of Jesus”. Everything from issues with equipment, coughs, colds, check engine lights, bad drivers, and more is attributed to the devil. Sunday mornings have people running around the church like Flo-Jo, screaming, speaking in ‘tongues’, and greetings of ‘sister’ and ‘brother’ abound. But, let’s fast forward 1 or 2 days. These same people are at work with poor work ethics, involved in fornication, their mouths spew profanity like broken fire hydrants in the Summer time, and the only time you hear about Jesus is when they are upset about something. You know what adds to this? There’s no conviction of sin (1 John 3).

Why is this the common theme of the Black church? Christianese, yet no Christ? So many Blacks in the church think they are ‘in’ with God because they attend church and serve on the usher board. The Gospel is rarely preached, and when it is, Jesus’ death is shown to have been so that they can have riches, prosperity, and perfect health. We hear that ‘by His stripes, we are healed’ and we cling to it as a promise that Aunt Jackie won’t die of cancer and Paw-Paw won’t die of emphysema although now 89, he’s been smoking since he was 16. And when this promise doesn’t ‘work’, Jesus becomes an object of anger as if He let us down, though this is never what He promised in the first place.

When Truth is attempted to be shared, it’s ignored. You’re frowned upon. You’re accused of being a tool of the Enemy. You’re even told you’re ‘too serious’. But – isn’t Christ the One we are to be the most serious about? The Black church perishes in its ignorance, showing it to truly be bliss, and attendees don’t know Jesus and don’t really believe in the Gospel. Solely attending church never got anyone anywhere. It actually desensitizes us to our true need.

It’s a man centered theology. Well – it’s not even really theology because if God was truly the object of this study, lives would be changed. But they aren’t. And there’s no desire. It’s basically, “Let me get my Word”, “I hope they sing my song today!”, “I paid my tithes; I’m good”, yet Jesus isn’t grasped for. He isn’t reached for. He isn’t treasured. He isn’t loved.

This is why men like Creflo Dollar, TD Jakes, Eddie Long, and Rickie Rush thrive in the Black church. It’s everything people want to hear. It’s a feel good message, and motivational speaking at best. There is no talk of sin, wrath, holiness, judgment… The Gospel isn’t preached in its fullness. What is ‘preached’ is what makes people feel good. But, you will feel good and be on your merry way to Hell without truly knowing God, trusting in Jesus, and being forgiven of your sins, which you need to be. We all need to be.

The Gospel is not that Jesus died to make me rich and healthy. If that were true, I’d BE rich and I’d BE healthy. But this is the Gospel – Jesus came to save sinners. Who are these sinners? Every human being alive on this planet. Sin is breaking God’s law, and sinful is the state that we are born into. We are sinful. None is good, not one, and none of us on our own seek to know this Holy God who created us. Because of our sinful nature, we stand condemned before God. We need an ‘out’. We need a way to be set free from this sin. We need a way to be made right before God so that we no longer stand condemned, but forgiven and free. Enter Jesus. Jesus, the Son of God, lived a perfect life – the life that we should live – yet died a gruesome death, absorbing the wrath of God. This is the death and the ending that we should all have. We should all incur God’s wrath and anger in its fullness. But Jesus was hung on a cross, and as He died on that cross, He, the perfect Son of God, absorbed the wrath of God so that for those who believe in Him by faith, there’d be no wrath left. This is good news! What is required of us? What we must do is repent of our sinfulness and wickedness and turn to Jesus. We must place all of our faith in Jesus Christ, and depend on Him for our forgiveness and our right standing before God. We cannot depend on participation in ministries, church attendance, or grandma’s faith. It’s you turning AWAY from your sin and turning TO Christ. And because Jesus lived the perfect life that we should have lived, when we place faith in Him, because He died our death, we receive His life. Isn’t that beautiful?

Satan is thriving in the Black church due to ignorance. Please trust in Jesus and be truly saved, lest you be like those in Matthew 7:

21 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22 On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ 23 And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’

Like it or not, the Mistress has always been a part of marital/committed relationship culture. As long as there is marriage and committed relationships there will be infidelity and Mistresses/Misters. It’s even easier now to cheat due to technology and the busyness of the world. So if you get married or are in a committed relationship there is a high probability there will be infidelity. Open relationships in this day and age would be the way to go and should be considered if you feel you just have to be involved in a one-on-one relationship. Take your chances, it’s 50/50.

It is sad to know that there are those that believe that is true, that mistresses are a part of marital culture. Praise God that this is not always the case. If you are single and desiring to be married, it may be good to pray for your future spouse… and not pray for them, as in requesting one (although there is nothing wrong with that! lol), pray for their spiritual wellbeing, their walk with Jesus, their heart toward marriage, etc. You don’t have to wait to meet them to be able to do those things.

Just thinking tonight… Observing how people are more concerned about saving whales, saving the rain forest, gay rights, not wearing fur, and protecting animals, but not many of these people fight for children. They do not fight for babies. They do not fight for the lives of unborn children. They refer to unborn children as fetuses in order to dehumanize them.

What a fallen and sick world we live in when the things that we have dominion over (plants and animals), we worship and spend our lives trying to save, yet when it comes to the lives of precious babies in the wombs of their mothers, a blind eye is turned, and it seems as though they are left to fend for themselves.

Who will fight for those babies? Christians, who will say, “Send me; I’ll go”?

The Voice of the Martyrs is calling on Christians worldwide to set aside Nov. 9, to pray for Christians around the world living daily under the threat of persecution as a part of the International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church (IDOP).

VOM will join hundreds of churches and thousands of individuals in remembering our brothers and sisters suffering around the world. These believers risk discrimination, imprisonment and even death because of their active witness for Jesus Christ.

“This is an important day in the church calendar,” said Todd Nettleton, VOM’s Director of Media Development. “Scripture instructs us to remember those in bonds as though we were bound with them. This special day of prayer is one of the ways corporately we do that.”

Christians are encouraged to pray for continued boldness and courage for believers as they share the gospel and for hearts to be softened to the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Pray not only for persecuted Christians, but for the persecutors as well.

If you have / had any tattoos or piercings, please take yourself to get tested for hepatitis C. Hepatitis C is a blood borne virus that affects the liver and can be spread through contaminated needles. If you have any tattoos or piercings, please take yourself to a doctor and get tested for hepatitis. It is not as rare as people would like to think it is, and many times there is the thought of, “It will never happen to me”. But do know that if everyone thinks that, someone has to be wrong because hepatitis C does get spread. Also, even if you don’t FEEL sick, the CDC states that many people who are infected never have symptoms and therefore never come to the attention of medical or public health officials. The CDC also states:

An estimated 3.2 million persons in the United States have chronic hepatitis C virus infection. Most people do not know they are infected because they don’t look or feel sick.

It can get pretty serious… So think of it this way – Let’s say you have had it for a year or so, no symptoms… well:

Hepatitis C can cause damage to your liver, even if you don’t have symptoms. You’re also able to pass the virus to others without having any symptoms yourself.

Most people infected with HCV (Hepatitis C virus) develop chronic hepatitis. Some people infected with hepatitis C develop cirrhosis, usually within 20 to 30 years after infection. This risk is higher and the progression is faster if you also have HIV infection. Of those who develop cirrhosis, the risk of developing liver failure is about 4 percent a year. In addition, between 1 percent and 5 percent of people with HCV eventually develop liver cancer.

HCV also may increase the risk of developing several types of lymphatic system cancers (lymphomas). Your risk of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, for example, may increase by 20 percent to 30 percent. Rarely, HCV infection can be associated with skin and kidney problems. The hepatitis C virus is linked to an increased risk of porphyria cutanea tarda, a condition that may cause a blistering rash, to cryoglobulinemia, which can cause a purplish rash (purpura) on your lower extremities, and may cause kidney damage.

Over time, if you have a hepatitis C infection, it can lead to liver cancer, liver failure or cirrhosis — irreversible and potentially fatal scarring of the liver.

Back in 2005, ethicist George Neumayr commented: “Each year in America fewer and fewer disabled infants are born. The reason is eugenic abortion. Doctors and their patients use prenatal technology to screen unborn children for disabilities, then they use that information to abort a high percentage of them. Without much scrutiny or debate, a eugenics designed to weed out the disabled has become commonplace.”

When I read this on NBC10, I felt something for this sweetheart. I was born with multiple holes in my heart and had closed heart surgery and open heart surgery, both before I turned 3, to fix this defect. I pray that little Adrian can have his surgery as well so that he can experience life without defect, and I pray that he comes to know the Lord so that he can experience life in TRUE freedom! If you can donate, please do – even if it is only $1 because that will bring them $1 closer to the necessary $85,000. If you cannot donate (and even if you do), the BEST thing you, we, anyone, can do is pray and seek the Lord God on behalf of little Adrian.

MIAMI, Fla (July 1, 2008) – The International Kids Fund (IKF), a program of Jackson Memorial Foundation dedicated to helping children throughout the world overcome serious illness, today is kicking off a fundraising campaign seeking the community’s support for a surgery that will enclose the heart of a twenty month-old toddler. Adrian Reheal lives with a very rare congenital birth defect known as ectopia cordis, in which his heart is located on the outside of his chest. This condition affects only eight in one million births, but usually results in still birth or death shortly after birth. As a result of the defect, Adrian’s parents are forced to monitor him around the clock to ensure he does not damage his unprotected heart.

“Babies that are born with ectopia cordis usually don’t survive birth or die shortly thereafter however, Adrian is defeating the odds. With surgery and treatments we will be able to provide a protective covering around his heart and repair his heart defects so that he will likely live a long and productive life,” says Dr. Eliot Rosenkranz, cardiothoracic surgeon at the University of Miami/Jackson Memorial Medical Center.

Aside from surgery to repair his ectopia cordis, Adrian will have to undergo additional procedures to help repair a large artrial septal defect, which is a heart defect in which there is a hole in the wall that separates the upper chambers of the heart; and a defect in the center of his diaphragm.

Since Adrian is not a U.S. resident and a public hospital cannot use taxpayers’ money to pay for his treatment, IKF is seeking the community’s support in raising $85,000 to help cover the cost of his procedures. Specifically, he will need a sternal reconstruction to restore the normal bone protection surrounding the heart. Holtz’s Children Hospital, Jackson Memorial Medical Center and the University of Miami and Jackson Memorial Medical Center have offered to perform the surgery at a charitable rate through their partnerships with the International Kids Fund (IKF).

“Adrian is young but you can already see his personality shining through. And with our help, we can extend the chances for him to develop his personality even further,” says Janelle Prieto, assistant director of IKF. “This little boy deserves a fighting chance, and with the community’s help we can help provide it.”

How to help
Those interested in making a tax-deductible donation for Adrian can mail a check or money order payable to International Kids Fund at the address below. Please include “Adrian Reheal” in the subject line of the check or money order in order to ensure credit to the appropriate account:

Donations can also be made online by visiting www.internationalkidsfund.org. For further information, potential donors also may write to info@internationalkidsfund.org.

About the International Kids Fund (IKF)
The International Kids Fund (IKF) at Holtz Children’s Hospital, a program of the Jackson Memorial Foundation, seeks to provide medical care to needy children from around the world who suffer from serious illnesses that cannot be treated in their countries. The fund ensures these children receive the best care possible at Holtz Children’s Hospital of the University of Miami/Jackson Memorial Medical Center, one of the nation’s premier teaching hospitals. For more information or to make a contribution, please visit www.internationalkidsfund.org or call 1-877-IKF-KIDS.

Stories like this make me extremely angry. You’re there and you’re supposed to be helping these people, yet you’re forcing children to have sex with you in return for what you’re supposed to provide anyway – food.

Why, as a believer in Christ Jesus, should I vote for Obama, one who is for partial birth abortion ? That is essentially murder. I refuse to vote for Obama simply because he is Black. Race doesn’t matter.

The 10 commandments state that you shouldn’t kill. Essentially, man is attempting to trump God when he takes a life into his own hands. Why do so many of my brothers and sisters in the Faith support this man ? No, there is NOT a perfect candidate, but I will not vote for a man who says it is okay to murder a child.

If you need to know more about what partial birth abortion is, peep:

These are done after 4 or 5 months.
– 80% of babies are normal.
– Most babies are viable.

This is like a breech delivery. The entire infant is delivered except the head. A scissors is jammed into the base of the skull. A tube is inserted into the skull, and the brain is sucked out. The now-dead infant is pulled out. The drawings illustrate this.